Crietzman.Org Weblog

The EyeTV 310 model from ElGato

How many of us, when we think of satellite television, immediately think of Sky Television and Mr Murdoch? In the UK the two terms have become virtually synonymous, but the truth is that Sky is merely the company that packages everything together in a neat bundle and sells it to the typical punter on the street.

The truth is that Sky do not produce the digiboxes that decode the channels, do not design satellite dishes, do not produce the content for the vast majority of the channels, and don’t design, build, launch or operate the satellites in geostationary orbit around the Earth which beam those channels down to us.

The satellites are produced and operated by a company called SES Astra. The satellites contain a number of ‘transponders’, which companies including BBC, Sky, ITV and others, lease from Astra. In essence, they buy a ‘channel’ on the satellite. Between the channel and the satellite company, we already have the programming itself, and the means to get it into your home.

And it used to be, a long time ago, that to receive satellite, all you then needed was any generic satellite dish and receiver (many companies made them) - and if you wanted to watch PayTV, a generic decoder box, and PayTV viewing card, from e.g. Sky.

Sky merely operated/ran some TV channels on the satellite, including Sky One, Sky Movies and so on, just like the BBC or ITV. Sky was just a broadcaster. But as their PayTV business depended on people buying satellite dishes (as opposed to BBC and ITV which couldn’t care less), they also went out of their way to promote the whole satellite/PayTV system to people, and offered to install the equipment you needed to get you going. But remember - you were still free to go to anyone for a dish, or a receiver. Sky didn’t really care how you did it back then. They just wanted you to pay for their extra channels. You could always buy a receiver from anyone, and then at a later date, get a decoder box. You’d only pay Sky if you wanted their branded channels. Sky were merely a player in a larger game, just like Astra, BBC, Sky, and so on.

Astra’s signal footprint covers the UK and parts of Europe

But as time went on, Sky became more and more associated in people’s minds with satellite TV, and people would go to Sky not just to subscribe to their extra channels and get a card, but to get the equipment installed, and even to subscribe to other companies channels through Sky directly. Sky then began to offer ‘bundled’ channels linking several producers together in one Sky package. And so through this Sky got more and more control, over the technology, the equipment, the channels, the broadcasters, and so on. So now, to receive PayTV you must have a Sky-approved Digibox installed - no others will decode Sky’s premium channels - and so you can’t now watch these PayTV channels without one. Sky dictate the look, the feel, and the capabilities of the box that other companies then build for them.

So why do you suddenly now need Sky-installed boxes to receive these channels when before you didn’t? Because Sky are in charge of the scrambling system’ the channels now use (they bought a company that specialised in this) so they cannot be received for free; they control the encryption technique, and they do not let anyone else use it. Noone can design a digibox (reciver) to watch these PayTV channels - no one - without Sky’s permission, and of course Sky does not give permission to anyone, except for those companies which design the boxes, given by Sky installers to new customers.

The upshot? Only Sky digiboxes can receive Sky One/Sports/Movies, Nickelodeon, UK Gold, and so on - as only Sky boxes can decode the channels. If you want these channels you must subscribe to Sky - and use their box. Nobody else can come out with a satellite competitor to Sky since no other competitor would be able to offer a box that would decode these TV signals. And since Sky control the box, they also control it’s software - the onscreen program guide and channel listings, too. Companies must now pay Sky for people to be able to see their channel on the onscreen list - even the BBC, ITV, and so on. If they don’t pay, they don’t get a listing, and the channel doesn’t exist. This is why ITV for a long time wasn’t viewable on Sky - ITV refused to pay the fee on principle. But under enormous pressure and faced with everyone else giving in, they too eventually gave in and coughed up the dough to Sky for a listing.

But, despite this, there is still a LOT of so called ‘free to air’ channels being broadcast through the SES Astra satellittes, including BBC1-4, ITV1-3, BBC News, Sky News, in fact over a hundred non-encrypted channels.

All you need to receive these, is a generic receiver. No Sky Digibox required. Since they are being broadcast ‘in the clear’, Sky can’t stop you using any old receiver to pick them up. And so that’s what I’ve gone and done!

I now have an EyeTV 310 (pictured to your right). This can pick up all the free-to-air channels on the SES Astra satellite. In eseence it’s like having a ‘Freeview Plus’ through satellite. And because it connects directly to my Mac, I can easily set up programs to be recorded automatically, in full 100% digital quality, onto my Mac’s hard disk, and from there, I can ‘burn’ a copy of any show onto DVD to be kept and watched on any DVD Player at a later date, in full broadcast quality.

I plan to take the EyeTV and eventually combine it with a MacMini from Apple, and put both of them underneath a large LCD display in the living room. We will then be able to use a remote control to play DVD’s, display photo albums on-screen, play our music MP3 collection, and watch digital recordings of our favourite shows, as well as for watching live TV through satellite (which we will be able to pause, rewind and forward fast at will). We can even use the Internet/Web to view TV listings and with a single click of a button, EyeTV will make sure that program is recorded for later viewing!(Even if we are several miles away from home at the time, using a computer at someone else’s to do this!)

I should add all this is going to be possible despite Sky, not because of them. If Sky had their way, all channels would be encrypted, and so we wouldn’t be able to decrypt and view any channels at all this way - and our plan would be unworkable. Thankfully, Sky don’t have complete control, and with a bit of technical know-how and a willingness to experiment, it’s still possible to use technology in fun and exciting ways!